Otherwise known
by the name of its builder, and marked on the map, "Woodbury’s
Bridge." The picture is taken at a point where the accumulated water
most presented the character of a stream, the swamp being in some places
all of a mile in width, and supporting on its treacherous surface a luxuriant
growth. In the depths of this morass, the home of almost every variety
of Virginia reptiles, the soldiers worked several weeks, constructing
the causeways knows as New, Duane’s, Sumner’s—Upper
and Lower—Bottom’s and Railroad Bridges. The cutting of dams
above, and heavy rains, stopped the workmen a number of times, and destroyed
their labor, by converting the whole valley into a broad lake, whose waters,
pressing through the length of the swamp carried everything irresistibly
before them. In this way, during the battle of Fair Oaks, Sumner’s
troops had barely passed over, when the rapidly accumulated waters of
the river carried away the bridge; and it was claimed by the engineers
that the weight of the men in crossing kept it in its place. If, in that
fight, our troops had been defeated, the limited facilities of re-crossing
the Chickahominy would probably have led to the capture of the greater
portion of the corps. The Grape Vine Bridge was so called for its tortuous
course through the swamp. Its construction was necessarily rude, as rough,
unhewn, and twisted logs formed the material. Down in the woods, the air
seemed to be suffocating with stagnation, while beneath the pall of mist,
an immense orchestra of double-bass bull frogs kept up a continual din,
which at night drowned the rumble of the wagons over the corduroys.

Caption
taken from original text, Plate 17, Vol. I,
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
(Washington: Philp & Solomons, 1865-66)

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Military
Bridge Across the Chickahominy. Virginia. Photographed by D. B. Woodbury